Khaberni - The billionaire who walked in space, Jared Isaacman, urged members of the U.S. Senate today, Wednesday, to quickly act on his nomination to lead the American space agency (NASA), after his nomination was withdrawn and then reinstated by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Isaacman appeared before the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in Washington, eight months after his initial nomination hearing.
The technology entrepreneur, who has undertaken two space missions through SpaceX, emphasized the need for "full-time leadership" at NASA as the agency prepares for a return trip to the moon in early next year.
Transportation Secretary Sean Davy has served as the acting director of NASA since the summer.
Isaacman told the committee chaired by Texas Senator Ted Cruz that returning astronauts to the moon for the first time in over 50 years would be "a challenging adventure, to say the least."
NASA targets early next year to send four astronauts on a flight around the moon. The astronauts will not land on the moon's surface, as the landing will take place in a subsequent mission. The goal is to outpace China in this area before the end of the current decade.
Isaacman further stated before the committee, "This is not a time for delay, but a time for action, because if we are delayed—or make a mistake—we may never catch up, and the consequences could change the balance of power here on Earth."
Cruz agreed with this view, stating, "NASA cannot overlook this matter," referring to China's upcoming lunar exploration plans, and added, "The United States must remain the unrivaled leader in space exploration."
Isaacman, (41 years old), is a skilled pilot who set a world record in 2009 for the fastest global flight in a light jet and is a friend of billionaire Elon Musk and one of his close associates, leading many space missions at his company SpaceX, in addition to advocating for expanding the space industry.
Since his childhood, Jared Isaacman was a computer genius, deciding at just 16 years old to start a payment processing company using a $10,000 check he received from his grandfather.
Isaacman established his company in the basement of his home, offering financial solutions and payment processing, and successfully expanded to launch his company "Shift4 Payments" in the United States. Over the years, it continued to succeed until it became a major company and went public in June 2020; it currently has a market value of $7.4 billion, with headquarters spanning 75,000 square feet in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, and employs more than 2000 people across the country.
Isaacman began taking flying lessons in his twenties, and in 2009 he set a world record, circling the globe in a "Cessna Citation CJ2" jet in less than 62 hours, about 20 hours faster than the previous record holder.
In 2013, he founded Draken International, a company that trains pilot students for the U.S. Air Force, and sold it to the investment firm "Blackstone Group" in 2020 for millions of dollars, according to Forbes magazine.
In 2021, his relationship with spaceflight training began through SpaceX when he led the world's first fully civilian mission to orbit, and in the current year 2024, he made history by commanding the "Polaris Dawn" mission for SpaceX, which is the first spacewalk mission managed by a private company.
During this trip, Jared Isaacman made history as the first civilian to perform a spacewalk, spending 10 minutes floating in space after exiting the "Crew Dragon" capsule, in a dangerous journey not undertaken by any individual outside of government astronauts.
